


die, die geschützt werden

by Kasuchi



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Challenge Response, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-09
Updated: 2008-06-09
Packaged: 2017-12-27 18:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/982277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasuchi/pseuds/Kasuchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is one long process of getting tired.</p>
            </blockquote>





	die, die geschützt werden

**Author's Note:**

> Companion fic to [der Wächterengel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/982181). Part of the **with_meaning** challenge on LiveJournal.

**5.**

A flash of white out of the corner of her eye turned her attention to the calendar. It was oddly blank, nothing major happening in the gray month of April, save for the large, green star on the 24th. She paused in scrubbing the dishes, unsure. The white noise of the faucet running faded into the background as she did some fast math.

She shook herself out of it and returned to scrubbing dishes, one particularly caked-on bit focusing her attention long enough for her to not think about the big, green date.

**4.**

"What's so special about the 24th?"

She paused in her charting, looking up at House. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he retorted, grabbing the red mug and filling it with coffee. "You have the 24th outlined on your calendar."

Her brow furrowed. "You mean my personal calendar? The one in the filofax?" She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "House, why have you been snooping through my stuff?"

"The better question is why you have a filofax when it's the twenty-first century." He leaned against the counter, stirring sugar into the brew. "I wanted some quarters."

"So you decided to open my filofax? Why didn't you try the wallet?" She resumed her charting, methodically filling in lines and boxes.

It was his turn to pause. "You're not even mad that I was rifling through your purse?"

"At this point, I almost would expect it. I'm more surprised that Wilson cut you off at last."

"He was in the OR."

"Ah," she replied, noncommittally, continuing to write.

"You still haven't answered my question, you know."

She set down the pen and folded her hands on the table. "You really want to know?"

"I'll drive you crazy if you don't tell me."

"You can't say I didn't warn you, though."

He shrugged. "Hit me."

She grinned widely. "Pap smear."

**3.**

"Cameron, I need you to cover my shift for me." Foreman followed her as she made her rounds through the clinic, three charts in hand and a fourth on the way.

She didn't need this. "What day is it?" She was stalling, she knew, but it was all she could come up with to put him off.

"April 24."

She stopped abruptly, and he nearly collided into her. Around her, the rush of everything suddenly receded into the white noise, and it was just them and their conversation. "No."

"No?" He sounded too incredulous for her liking.

"Foreman, if it was any other day, I might think about it harder." She started walking towards the fourth patient room, shuffling the files around until she got the right one on top. "But that day? Not negotiable."

"But, Cameron--"

"No buts." She levelled a hard stare at him. "I have plans."

"What plans?"

She sighed. "If you must know, my mother needs me. The 24th was the earliest I could go to see her."

"That's it?"

"That's _enough_ ," she retorted, a note of finality in her voice, and she turned the knob to the exam room.

"Fine, fine, I'll ask Chase." He stuffed his hands his pockets and stalked off, muttering.

She sighed and pasted a smile on her face, walking in to talk to the patient with the herniated kneecap.

**2.**

"I was thinking maybe we could grab drinks this weekend?"

She looked up from her laptop at Chase, who had his jacket slung over one shoulder. "Friday, maybe. Saturday, I can't."

"Why?"

She groaned loudly, startling him. "Why does everyone have to know why I'm busy this weekend? Can't I be busy because I have a life outside of this hospital?"

"Hey, hey. Relax. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He paused. "But, if it's a social life you wanted, medicine was _probably_ a bad idea."

She gave him a small smile. "That's true." She paused. "I'm going out of town."

"This weekend? Any reason?"

She shook her head. "No, just...I need a day, you know?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I do know." He clapped her on the shoulder. "I'll see you later. Friday night, right?"

"I'll be there." She gave him a short wave before turning back to the laptop screen.

**1.**

Dr. Cuddy strode into the conference room, lime green suit somehow demure. Well, for her, anyway.

House, of course, whistled appreciatively. "Looking as lovely as ever, Cuddy."

"Not now, House." She tapped a matching lime green heel impatiently. "I need to see Dr. Cameron."

"She's at the spa."

"She's visiting her mother."

"She's at the doctor."

The three men, who had responded at the same time exchanged confused looks.

Cuddy rubbed the bridge of her nose. "House?"

"She told me she was getting her pap. I didn't ask beyond that."

"Foreman?"

"She said her mother 'needed' her." He even added air quotes.

"Chase?"

He shrugged. "Said she needed a day to get away from it all. I assumed she meant spa, probably in the city."

"So she told all three of you different reasons for why she'd be absent?"

They nodded.

"And any one of them could be true?"

"They could all be lies," House supplied, not helpfully.

Cuddy glared at him. "I pay you for what, again?"

"Hey, I solve _medical_ mysteries, not that C.S.I. stuff."

She rolled her eyes. "If she turns up, tell her I need to see her?" Foreman and Chase nodded, and she about-faced and left.

"It seems the good Dr. Cameron has lied to us," House commented, almost startlingly mildly.

"It does support your Unified Dishonesty Theory," Foreman pointed out.

"Which is?"

Chase grinned. "Everybody lies."

**0.**

She was thankful that it was a sunny day - rain always made this so much more depressing than it already was. She looked up the grassy hill and sighed, wondering why she bothered to wear heels at all. Then, arms out for balance, she trekked up to the top, nodding at those she passed along the way.

Finally, she came the crest of the hill. It was in sight now, and she was glad that they had picked here. Slowly - she had all the time in the world, and so did he - she walked up. Then, she knelt. One hand extended outward, tracing the lines, and she smiled softly.

"Hey. It's me."

Around her, the birds twittered. Otherwise, the cemetary was still; even the voices of others visiting loved ones was muted, the sounds carried away by the wind.

"It's been another year." She brushed imaginary lint from her skirt. "The fellowship is almost done. I'm thinking about going somewhere else. Maybe back the Mayo Clinic. Baylor has an opening in their immunology department. It'd be research, mostly." She sighed. "I don't know if I want to move to Texas, though. And Waco's kind of out in the country.

"Although you always did make fun of me for having grown up on a farm." She smiled and shrugged. "Maybe. I don't have to decide just yet, though. I think Cuddy - Lisa Cuddy, I've mentioned her - might offer me something at Princeton, though."

She twisted her hands together. "I've done some things this past year that I'm not proud of. I'll admit it. Taking meth, getting AIDS - well, almost - and sleeping with my coworker are just the tip of the iceberg. I'm just...I'm tired of being alone." She bit her lip. "I miss you, you know. I know we didn't have a lot of time together, but, when you proposed--" Her voice cracked, and she sniffed, swallowing her tears.

"You told me you loved me, and I believed it. I really, truly did. I _do_. I don't doubt for a moment that you loved me."

She reached into her purse and pulled out a small envelope, sealed shut. On the front, in thick, black ink, was his name in her distinct, loopy handwriting. "I hope you can read this." She laughed. "I know I leave you one every year, but it's tradition."

She sobered quickly. "Besides, that's what we do - we write to each other." She paused. "Maybe you should start writing back, huh?

"Oh, that was bad." She shook her head and pulled a stone from her purse, smooth and rounded by water. "I saw this and thought - _hoped_ , really - you'd like it, too." She used it to weight down the letter she had written.

There was a long silence, where the only sound was the rush of the wind and the beating of her heart.

Suddenly, a movement in the corner of her eye made her start, and the sound of wings beating in the air caused her to stand and glance about. The sky was empty, and she was most certainly alone. She shook her head - _You've become paranoid,_ she chided herself - and turned back to the headstone.

"Until next year," she said. Never a good-bye, but a parting. She smiled once more before heading back down the hill, cursing her choice in footwear the entire way.

Behind her, a soft glow of light brightened - only briefly - before fading into the sunshine.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Gods, I am so late with this. I apologize profusely and hope my meager offering is worth the wait. Much love to **fated_addiction** and **marcasite** for giving me the mother of all extensions. You guys rock.
> 
> 2\. "Life is one long process of getting tired." - Samuel Butler.
> 
> 3\. "Die, die geschützt werden" means "those who are guarded" in German. Don't ask me how to pronounce that.
> 
> 4\. "One Room, One Day" was the last ep I saw. "Merry Little Christmas" is the last ep I remember.
> 
> 5\. **Prompt:** 16\. cozen: to deceive or obtain by deceit.


End file.
